NEW YORK (AP) — The children crumple and fall to the stage, victims of King Herod’s assassins. Then the Virgin Mary, in a voice brimming with anguish and outrage, memorializes the student protesters who were massacred by Mexican armed forces in 1968.
This is “El Nino,” a retelling of the birth and early life of Jesus through a mix of biblical verses and modern Latin American poetry, medieval texts and apocrypha.
Set to music by John Adams from a libretto compiled by him and Peter Sellars, it is having its Metropolitan Opera premiere nearly a quarter-century after it was first performed in Paris in 2000.
“It contains some of John’s greatest music,” Met general manager Peter Gelb said. “But I had always thought of it as an oratorio,” along the lines of Handel’s “Messiah.” That changed, he said, when he met with Lileana Blain-Cruz, resident director of Lincoln Center Theater, who told him ”her dream was to stage it as a fully realized production.”
John Adams' Nativity oratorio 'El Nino' gets colorful staging at the Met
Xi, Kim Jointly Designate 2024 as China
Roundup: Establishment of diplomatic ties with China applauded across Honduras
Japan hosts G7 foreign ministers' meeting amid protests
University of Oregon football player, 19, is arrested for fatal hit and run after 46
Xi, Kim Jointly Designate 2024 as China
Xi Sends Condolences to Iranian President over Serious Terror Attacks
Landmark loss and damage fund approved as UN climate conference closes in Egypt
Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work
Xi Sends Condolences to Iranian President over Serious Terror Attacks
Police detective lays bare Hells Angels' twisted links to the MAFIA
Sudanese army says will help evacuate foreign nationals